By now, you should have assigned and graded several informal assessments.
Describe the objective and at least one feature of an informal assessment that you have designed.
Informal Assessment Title: "That's Life"
Prior to the assessment students participated in a quick lab where they rotated through stations and observed a different object at each station (ice, a sponge, a leaf of kale, a germinating bulb, ladybugs, and a rock). Students were to decide if each object was a living thing and describe why. After the lab the class shared their thoughts, and we took some quick notes on the 7 characteristics of life, what an object must have to be a living thing. Students were then asked to look over their lab sheets and decide if they should now change their answers based on the notes they took. The "That's Life" assessment was then assigned for homework. This assessment asked students to read a brief article detailing the characteristics of life discussed in class. They were then, to find a picture in which they thought there might be a living thing, and write a constructed response about why that picture contained a living thing. Our team describes the constructed response format to students as a "Hamburger Paragraph" where the Intro sentence is the bun, the details are the good stuff in the middle, and the conclusion is the other bun...put everything together and you have a hamburger!
The objective of this assignment was not only to reinforce the characteristics of life and assess whether or not students understood the work from that day, but also to give students the opportunity to practice writing a constructed response outside of ELA. Students were graded based on their inclusion of at least 3 of the characteristics of life, as well as the use of proper "Hamburger Paragraph" format.
How have you been using the results of the assessments you've used to improve how you teach and what students learn? What strategies has your CT suggested for providing students with guidance before they do the assignment to improve their performance? What about after the assignment?
Having students complete assessments for homework has helped me to see what is still unclear, so I can address it again in a different way. My CT is a format queen :) Formatting the assessments and directions so as they are easily readable, and very clear is key. Making up a worksheet, assignment or quiz can take hours for me because I am constantly playing around with the font type, size, bold, underlined, including a table to organize, including a word bank etc. When complete each sheet seems like a work of art! After the assignment we usually discuss the answers as a class, and I always instruct students to write down the correct answer if theirs is not. This way students can use each and every assessment as a study guide for the next quiz or test, because they have written in the correct answers.
Describe the objective and at least one feature of an informal assessment that you have designed.
Informal Assessment Title: "That's Life"
Prior to the assessment students participated in a quick lab where they rotated through stations and observed a different object at each station (ice, a sponge, a leaf of kale, a germinating bulb, ladybugs, and a rock). Students were to decide if each object was a living thing and describe why. After the lab the class shared their thoughts, and we took some quick notes on the 7 characteristics of life, what an object must have to be a living thing. Students were then asked to look over their lab sheets and decide if they should now change their answers based on the notes they took. The "That's Life" assessment was then assigned for homework. This assessment asked students to read a brief article detailing the characteristics of life discussed in class. They were then, to find a picture in which they thought there might be a living thing, and write a constructed response about why that picture contained a living thing. Our team describes the constructed response format to students as a "Hamburger Paragraph" where the Intro sentence is the bun, the details are the good stuff in the middle, and the conclusion is the other bun...put everything together and you have a hamburger!
The objective of this assignment was not only to reinforce the characteristics of life and assess whether or not students understood the work from that day, but also to give students the opportunity to practice writing a constructed response outside of ELA. Students were graded based on their inclusion of at least 3 of the characteristics of life, as well as the use of proper "Hamburger Paragraph" format.
How have you been using the results of the assessments you've used to improve how you teach and what students learn? What strategies has your CT suggested for providing students with guidance before they do the assignment to improve their performance? What about after the assignment?
Having students complete assessments for homework has helped me to see what is still unclear, so I can address it again in a different way. My CT is a format queen :) Formatting the assessments and directions so as they are easily readable, and very clear is key. Making up a worksheet, assignment or quiz can take hours for me because I am constantly playing around with the font type, size, bold, underlined, including a table to organize, including a word bank etc. When complete each sheet seems like a work of art! After the assignment we usually discuss the answers as a class, and I always instruct students to write down the correct answer if theirs is not. This way students can use each and every assessment as a study guide for the next quiz or test, because they have written in the correct answers.